Overview

• On the 27th anniversary, the former festival site in Sonobe stood unadorned with no communal memorial held.
• Victims report undiminished anger after Masumi Hayashi’s death sentence was finalized in 2009 without clarifying her motive.
• Municipal Yukō Elementary School continues to exclude curry from its lunch menu as a lasting mark of the tragedy.
• Local residents remain split between forgetting the incident and supporting remembrance efforts, reflecting deep community rifts.
• Victims’ Association vice-chair Yasuki Sugitani highlights generational resonance—his granddaughter is now the same age his daughter was when she fell ill—and says he gives interviews to keep awareness alive.